Three Stories
by Ishap
Summary: Everyone likes a game. On the darker side. post "Rapture"


"How about a game?" Even though she'd had quite a few, Starbuck's hand was still perfectly steady as she poured for Dee and then herself.

"A game?"

"You like games don't you? Everyone likes games."

"Depends on the game."

"This one is called two truths and a lie. I'm going to tell you three stories and two of them will be the truth and one is going to be a lie."

"I know the game."

"Good. Usually it's supposed to be about yourself, but since neither one of us gives much of a frak about the other, we'll play it slightly differently. I'll tell you three stories about Lee and you tell me which are true and which is the lie. How's that sound?"

"So you can find out how well I know my own husband?"

"Yes."

"How very Starbuck."

"I'm glad you approve."

"I didn't say that."

"Ah. Zing. Ouch. I'll take that as my cue to skip the foreplay. Lee would be disappointed, he likes that part."

"Zing."

"Story number one. Do you know how I met Lee?"

Dee shook her head thoughtfully. Thinking about it, she was surprised she'd never heard about how the two had met.

"I met him when he was with Helo. At the time Helo and I were more than acquaintances but not close friends."

"_With_ Helo?" Starbuck raised an eyebrow and Dee's jaw dropped. She was ready to call this one the lie right away but...

"They met at the gym." Starbuck supplied. 'Of course they would have..' Dee thought to herself, finding it plausible in an implausible way.

"Helo told me later that he knew they wouldn't last after he introduced him to me. Called me 'the only woman man enough for my Apollo.' Annoying me was a hobby of his." Starbuck smirked at the memory, or pretended to, then looked at Dee who was studying her carefully.

"Looking for a tell?" She shook her head in mock disappointment "You're supposed to be using your knowledge of Lee to know if I'm lying my ass off."

Starbuck looked her in the eye, and Dee couldn't get anything off of her.

"Well?"

"Next."

"Story the second." Starbuck helpfully and obnoxiously put two fingers up and wiggled them.

"When we were at the academy, this was after Helo and Apollo broke up," Starbuck tipped a wink" and he and I were hanging out a lot, we got the idea to take our leave on Scorpion. You know, or maybe you don't... anyway there was a gambler's paradise there called Palantia. Lee and I were both nuts for Triad, and we thought it would be a great time...and it was..." Starbuck trailed off, seemingly lost in memories. "The point is that he came back with more money than I did. He's a better player than I am. He doesn't win in our pilot's game because he chooses not to. He thinks it's bad leadership. Ordinarily he wouldn't even play with his subordinates because there's no upside. If he won, his people might resent him. If he lost they might think he was stupid. He decided to do so because he needed to make himself a part of the unit quickly. Anyone with any skill at our game knows how good he is." she paused "What's important for our purposes is why he's good: he's that good because he's one of the best liars I've ever met." At this Starbuck smiled brightly and took a shot, slamming the glass down afterward.

Dee shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Why are you doing this?"

At the question, Starbuck's good humor and playfulness vanished as if it was never there.

"I'm doing you a favor. If you're too blind to see that..."

"A favor?" Dee asked incredulously.

"Whatever. Story number three." Starbuck's whole demeanor was subdued now, and she was playing with her glass, not looking at anything but the amber liquid that she had filled it with.

"When Zak's viper exploded...at the same time my fiancee died Lee and I..." she stopped and drank, suddenly fidgety...and silent. Dee watched her face form expressions that she couldn't make sense of as a hollow feeling spread in her abdomen. Finally Starbuck looked up and seemed to notice that Dee existed again.

"You know what...never mind. Thanks for coming to get me down on that rock." She said it as if she didn't know why Dee had done that, but Dee knew that she did. She looked Dee in the eye.

"You're a nice person." Dee couldn't decide whether the tone was pity or sympathy...or some courteous form of contempt.

She poured for Dee, clicked her glass to Dee's where it rested on the table and then left.


End file.
